ORLEANS — Fewer Orleans residents died in 2017 than in the previous two years, an even 100 as opposed to 114 in both 2015 and 2016. That's one of the facts in the Annual Town Report for year 2017, now available at town hall and worth a look-through before the May 7 town meeting. One of the 100 deaths in 2017 was that of Jean Finch, the founder of Cape Cod's first skateboard park, which is still located at...

ORLEANS — The list of what didn't happen at 353 South Orleans Rd. over the last two centuries could be shorter than the list of what did. The property at the corner of Namequoit Road and Route 28 has been home to a sea captain, a selectman, a state representative, a lay preacher, a salt maker, a farmer, and a cultivator of trees – and that's just the life of John Kenrick, Sr., who lived there for the first h...

ORLEANS – On July 21, 1918, the German submarine U-156 surfaced about three miles off Nauset Beach and shelled the tugboat Perth Amboy and the four barges it had in tow. The barges were sunk, the tug was badly damaged, and two people were injured. Several shots fired from the U-boat’s 5.9-inch deck guns hit the Orleans shore, making the town the only place on U.S. soil to receive enemy gunfire during World War ...

ORLEANS — Things look good on paper. There are 28 town landings, 28 opportunities to get your boat or kayak into the water. But “the major impact on every one is adequate parking,” Town Administrator John Kelly told the board of selectmen, meeting as park commissioners, last week. “The number one issue is, we don't have enough parking, regardless of use.” Except for restrictions during striped bass season...

ORLEANS — Cape Symphony Artistic Director Jung-Ho Pak isn't the only Cape Cod musician who's earned the title maestro. Applause, please, for the eight Maestro award winners of Nauset Regional High School, who received that honor recently at the Atlanta Heritage Festival competition. Take a bow, Gordon Clark (trombone), Sean Chung (euphonium), Keb Hutchings-McMahon (guitar), Parker Mumford (piano), Acacia Nel...

ORLEANS — The return of summer visitors – both people and white sharks – is only a few months away, and local researchers and public safety officials are thinking about a potential surge in shark ecotourism this season. A number of local businesses are already operating boat excursions for shark-watching and cage diving, and others are advertising plans to do so. Meeting in Orleans last week, members of the ...

ORLEANS — The aftermath of a death by suicide can be immobilizing for family and friends. Some can't even talk about it, yet others believe they must. “In October of 2016, we lost our youngest son Jeremy to suicide,” said Dr. Kim Mead-Walters, who practices family medicine in Orleans. “He was 16, a junior at Nauset (Regional High School). Over the following six months, we spent a lot of time with our family,...

ORLEANS — Though researchers don’t have firm numbers from 2017, it’s becoming clear that the number of individual white sharks off Cape Cod is substantial. Scientists are preparing to start the final year of the five-year population study this summer. “There’s going to be a lot of sharks once this is all said and done,” shark researcher John Chisholm said. Chisholm is painstakingly reviewing thousands of und...

Almost as inevitable as taxes is the springtime return of red tide to the Nauset estuary. “It is a fairly annual occurrence,” Natural Resources Manager Nate Sears wrote in an email. “It happens more often than not.” On April 4, Nauset estuary and parts of other areas were closed to shellfishing until further notice. Testing revealed the presence of the algal blooms that can sometimes redden the water. As...

With a deadline looming for Chatham and Orleans to sign an agreement for the joint management of Nauset (North) Beach, negotiations are threatening to devolve into a sand-kicking contest. Last week, Orleans officials rejected Chatham’s plan for the beach, which included a surcharge on non-resident stickers designed to help pay for efforts to protect shorebirds on Chatham’s portion of the beach.  This week, Cha...

ORLEANS — Tom Daley, the town's DPW director, calls Buddy Young a rascal. Then he tells you, “I admire his honesty and his caring for the town of Orleans.” “I enjoy making trouble,” said Young, a familiar presence at selectmen's meetings and a member of the facility committee for the new DPW building. “I never could say what I wanted to. Now I don't care.” He definitely cares about his town, where he was ...

Fitting together all the pieces of the Nauset Beach experience isn't easy, and it's even harder when the ocean is tapping on your shoulder. Last week, selectmen and Woods Hole Group consultant Leslie Fields wrestled with responses to recent storms that have forced the town to demolish the beach's iconic clam shack and move the decades-old gazebo to higher ground. In the short term – for this summer – the to...